NEW DELHI: The department of posts, India Post, said Friday that it had signed an agreement with Wall Street Exchange, a company of the Emirates Post Group of UAE, for launch of an international electronic money transfer service called Instant Cash.

The service will be rolled out in a phased manner across the country and will be made available at 17,500 post offices by next month. The service will be provided through the International Financial System (IFS) of Universal Postal Union.

The tie-up offers reliable money transfer service for Indians living in the Gulf region. India is the largest recipient of remittances with over $ 70 billion annually, half of which come from the Gulf.

Instant Cash is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Emirates Post Group, and its services are available in 59 countries through more than 60,000 locations. India Post is the largest postal network in the world and over the last 158 years of existence, it has created a network of 155,000 post offices in the country. A majority of these post offices are in the rural areas.